Apparatus for slurrying soda ash

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for forming soda ash slurries is described wherein large quantities of soda ash are dispersed and wetted with a soda ash solution to form a mixture of saturated soda ash and sodium carbonate monohydrate.

United States Patent 11 1 Weeks et al.

1 1 June 24, 1975 1 1 APPARATUS FOR SLURRYING SODA ASH 175) Inventors:Lorne E. Weeks. Kenmore; Ronald W. Doran, Tonawandu. both of NY.

[73] Assignee: Intermountain Research and Development Corporation. GreenRiver. Wyo.

221 Filed: Dec. 3, 1973 [21] App1.N0.:421,278

Related US. Application Data 162] Division of Ser. No. 143.062. May 13.1971. Pat. No.

158] Field of Search 23/271 R, 267 R; 118/303. 118/24; 23/267 R 1561References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 801.200 10/1905 Bailey 23/271871,300 11/1907 Schwarz 23/271 1.889.642 1 1/1932 Davis 118/3032.071.846 2/1937 Lamb 118/303 2.324.874 7/1943 Peters 118/303 2.601.3556/1952 Wyss 118/303 2.978.299 4/1961 Milne 23/271 3.477.808 1 1/1969Hellmcrs 23/271 3.533.829 10/1970 Ouanguin 118/303 3.606.093 9/1971Morse 23/271 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 26.152 1908 United Kingdom23/271 1.412.273 1964 France 118/303 60.839 1892 Germany 118/303 PrimanExaminer-Norman Yudkoff Ass/slam Examiner-S. J. Emery l 5 7] ABSTRACT Amethod and apparatus for forming soda ash slurries is described whereinlarge quantities of soda ash are dispersed and wetted with a soda ashsolution to form a mixture of saturated soda ash and sodium carbonatemonohydrate.

3 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure SODA ASH APPARATUS FOR SLURRYING SODA ASHThis is a division. of application Ser. No. 143,062. filed May 13. I971now US. Pat. 3.802.848.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A. Field of the Invention The inventioncovers a method for making up slurries of soda ash and water and theapparatus for effecting these slurries.

B. Description of the Prior Art It is known that soda ash can be storedand dispensed in the form of an aqueous mixture. Upon mixing sufficientsoda ash with water. part of the soda ash dissolves to form a saturatedsodium carbonate solution while the remainder. which does not dissolve,is converted to crystals of sodium carbonate monohydrate that settle tothe bottom of the mixture as a fluid, non-hardening slurry. This methodof storage is desirable because the slurry has a considerably higherapparent density than the dry soda ash from which it was made. As aresult it is possible to store up to 50 percent more soda ash in a givenvolume as a slurry rather than in its dry form. The soda ash isrecovered from the storage tank by removing the upper layer of saturatedsoda ash solution. In many cases the uniformity of the saturated sodaash solution permits dispensing of the soda ash volumetrically withacceptable accuracy. A typical method for storing and withdrawing ofsoda ash slurries is described in US. Pat. No. 3,357,801 issued on Dec.l2, I967 to William H. Weed et al.

The soda ash is replenished in the storage tank most conveniently byadding soda ash and water in the form of a slurry. This increases theamount of both saturated soda ash and sodium carbonate monohydratecrystals in the storage tank.

One of the difficulties that has arisen in this system has been inproperly slurrying the soda ash with water or an aqueous sodiumcarbonate solution, prior to introducing the soda ash into the storagetank. It is important that the slurrying stage provide for thoroughwetting and dispersion of the dry soda ash in the liquid to avoid anycaking or lumping of the soda ash. Such caking is most undesirablebecause such caked parti cles of soda ash are converted to sodiumcarbonate monohydrate only at their surface. The caked particles containundissolved soda ash in their center enclosed within a layer of sodiumcarbonate monohydrate crystals. This nonhomogeneous particle does notdissolve readily and the desired increased density of the slurry anduniformity of the stored soda ash is not obtained. As a result. it isdesirous to develop a process and equipment which will provide forcomplete wetting and dispersion of the dry soda ash with the liquid tobe added to the storage tank.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It has been found that complete wetting of sodaash with an aqueous fluid can be achieved by conveying soda ashparticles through a conduit to a divergent injector nozzle locatedwithin a housing, dispersing the soda ash particles through the injectornozzle in a substantially flat plane, said plane being inclineddownwardly from the horizontal and substantially parallel to an inclinedsplash plate located at the base of said housing below the dispersedsoda ash particles, introducing an aqueous fluid downwardly onto and incontact with the dispersed soda ash particles to wet them and to 2 forma slurry thereof. passing said slurry downwardly along the inclinedsplash plate to an opening in the base of the housing and dischargingthe slurry through the opening to a storage area below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the drawing there is illustrated aperspective view of the apparatus for forming the soda ash slurry; alsoshown in the drawing is a tank vent and wet scrubber built into one sideof the apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION AND THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The inventioncan best be described by reference to the attached drawing. Theslurrying apparatus which is shown in the drawing is fitted atop astorage tank. not shown, so that the final slurry is fed by gravitydownward into the storage tank. The soda ash particles are conveyedthrough a conduit, not shown. from the truck or rail car by airconveying or other known techniques for moving dry particles through aconduit.

The air conveyed soda ash particles enter the divergent injector nozzle2 which is located in an opening 4 of the slurrying apparatus. Theslurrying apparatus is made up of a housing which is formed by walls 6and 8 and a roof 9. The housing is also enclosed by side walls, notshown. The soda ash particles upon being pushed through the divergentinjector nozzle 2 are dispersed in a substantially flat plane within thehousing. The plane formed by the soda ash particles is substantiallyparallel to the splash plate 10 shown at the base of the housing belowthe soda ash particles. Aqueous fluid, under high pressure, is passedthrough conduits l2 and sprayed on the soda ash particles as they passover the splash plate. The soda ash particles, which are spread out in asubstantially thin, flat plane, are readily wetted by the fluid which isshowered down on the particles from conduits I2. As a result of this,thorough wetting of the particles, without lumping, is obtained. Thewetted particles then form a slurry which passes downwardly along theinclined splash plate 10 and finally through opening 14 in the base ofthe slurry apparatus and into the storage tank below.

As large amounts of slurry are passed through opening I4 in theslurrying apparatus, it will be realized that large quantities of airwill be displaced from the storage tank below the slurrying apparatus.Accordingly, the present invention also contemplates a vent which isformed by member 16 and wall 8 of the slurrying apparatus. Air which isdisplaced from the tank below the slurrying apparatus exits through theopening 18 in the slurrying apparatus and passes upwardly and out to theatmosphere. To avoid the possibility of fines exiting from the vent,there is included fluid carrying means 20 which injects water or asodium carbonate solution into the vent to scrub down any fines andpermit only air and water vapour to escape from the vent.

The above described slurrying system has many advantages. Initially. theunit prevents atmospheric dusting" of soda ash during the mixing andslurrying operations. Such dusting is extremely undesired because of thehandling problem it presents to the operators conducting the slurryingoperation and further because it contributes to pollution of the air inthe loading area.

The present system also precludes the possibility of aqueous fluidbacking up into the delivering vehicle. This is most important since anywater which backs up into the delivery vehicle will immediately convertthe soda ash in the delivery vehicle into an unmanageable, solid wetsolid which is impossible to air convey through tubes. Most importantly,the slurrying method and apparatus permit the handling of largequantities of soda ash without difficulty and without any caking orlumping of the soda ash fed to the slurrying unit.

In the operation of the slurrying apparatus, the liquid which is used toform the soda ash slurry can be either water or sodium carbonatesolution. Normally, some of the sodium carbonate solution which is inthe storage tank is recirculated through the conduits 12 in order toslurry up additional soda ash. Water may be added as is needed toregulate the depth of the sodium carbonate monohydrate layer which isdesired in the storage facility.

Pursuant to the requirements of the patent statutes, the principle forthis invention has been explained and exemplified in a manner so that itcan be readily practiced by those skilled in the art, suchexemplification including what is considered to represent the bestembodiment of the invention. However, it should be clearly understoodthat, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may bepracticed by those skilled in the art, and having the benefit of thisdisclosure, otherwise than as specifically described and exemplifiedherein.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for slurrying soda ash comprising an enclosed housing,an inclined divergent injection nozzle extending through an opening inone side of said housing for dispersing soda ash particles insubstantially a flat plane, an inclined splash plate attached along itslower edge to the base of said housing and substantially parallel to andbelow the plane of soda ash particles introduced through said nozzle, aplurality of liquid spraying means located above said nozzle fordispersing fluid downwardly onto the soda ash particles and splashplate, and an opening in the base of said housing running alone thelower edge of said splash plate to permit the resulting soda ash slurryto exit from the lower end of the splash plate into a storage tank, saidstorage tank being located directly below and in sealing relationshipwith said opening.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a vent channel is formed forremoving air displaced from said storage tank, wherein a side of housingconstitutes one wall of the vent channel, a vertical member exterior tothe housing constitutes the other, outer wall of said vent channel, andan opening in said side of said housing permits air to flow said storagetank through said opening and up through the vent channel to theatmosphere.

3. Apparatus of claim 2 wherein said vent channel has fluid conduitslocated therein to disperse fluids downwardly through said vent channelto scrub particulate matter out of the air in said vent channel.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO. 3,891,393

DATED June 24, 1975 |NVENTOR(S) Lorne E. Weeks and Ronald W. Doran It iscertified that error appears in the above-identified patent and thatsaid Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

"vapour" should read vapor-.

Column 2, line 57,

Column 3, line 18, "for" should read of.'

Column 4, line 11, "alone" should read -along.

Column 4, line 18, of housing" should read of said housing-.

Column 4, line 22, "flow said storage" should read -flow from saidstorage-.

Third Day of August 1976 [SEAL] A nest:

RUTH C. MASON Arresting Officer C. MARSHALL DANN Commissiuner oj'Parenrsand Trademarks

1. AN APPARATUS FOR SLURRYING SODA ASH COMPRISING AN ENCLOSED HOUSING ANINCLINED DIVERGENT INJECTION NOZZLE EXTEND ING THROUGH AN OPENING IN ONESIDE OF SAID HOUSING FOR DISPERSING SODA ASH PARTICLES IN SUBSTANTIALLYA FLAT PLANE, AN INCLINED SPLASH PLATE ATTACHED ALONG ITS LOWER EDGE TOTHE BASE OF SAID HOUSING AND SUBSTANTIALY PARALLEL TO AND BELOW THEPLANE OF SODA ASH PARTICLES INTRODUCED THROUGH SAID NOZZLE A PLURALITYOF LIQUID SPRAYING MEANS LOCATED ABOVE SAID NOZZLE FOR DISPERSING FLUIDDOWNWARDLY ONTO THE SODA ASH PARTICLES AND SPLASH PLATE AND AN OPENINGIN THE BASE OF SAID HOUSING RUNNING ALONE THE LOWER EDGE OF SAID SPLASHPLATE TO PERMIT THE RESULTING SODA ASH SLURRY TO EXIT FROM THE LOWER ENDOF THE SPLASH PLATE INTO A STORAGE TANK, SAID STORAGE TANK BEING LOCATEDDIRECTLY BELOW AND IN SEALING RELATIONSHIP WITH SAID OPENING.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein a vent channel is formed for removing airdisplaced from said storage tank, wherein a side of housing constitutesone wall of the vent channel, a vertical member exterior to the housingconstitutes the other, outer wall of said vent channel, and an openingin said side of said housing permits air to flow said storage tankthrough said opening and up through the vent channel to the atmosphere.3. Apparatus of claim 2 wherein said vent channel has fluid conduitslocated therein to disperse fluids downwardly through said vent channelto scrub particulate matter out of the air in said vent channel.